Changing States
by BladeChaser
Summary: After a road trip in search of Stefan's tracks goes wrong, Alaric and Damon must deal with the consequences and decide if eternity is worth the price. Dalaric bromance and maybe slash ;)


**A/N - This is set in early season 3 when Alaric and Damon are secretly tracking Stefan and Alaric doesn't have the ring. It goes AU from that point. This is part one of four, I know it's not very long but I wanted to do something that I'm confident I can finish. Enjoy the bromance.**

**BC**

* * *

Alaric felt cold, not like the cold of a harsh wind rushing through your clothes as you walk after the sun has set, not the cold like someone dropping an ice cube down your back, this was a different kind of cold. An icy chill that swept up and down his body and through his very bones as if it was trying to cleanse him of any warmth that he had once possessed. The hairs on his arms stood on end and he involuntarily curled his fingers and toes as if he were trying to cling to the vestiges of heat that had fled him. When claws of ice tore into his flesh he did not scream, he felt no pain, his body felt numb and peaceful, he could see everything but could do nothing - he wanted to do nothing. He idly noted that his life was slipping away from him and decidedly refrained from caring. He looked over to his left and saw a fallen vampire, blood dripping from his hairline, over his brow and down across his cheek. He moved the fingers of his left hand a little, absently surprised that he had enough blood left to still feel them, frowning at the place his ring had once sat. John Gilbert had taken that from him.

Alaric could still hear Damon and the other vampires as they fought but the sounds of the struggle seemed muted and faint, as if they were all underwater. He tried to move to see what was going on but his head swam and the ground seemed to flex beneath him. Before the dark took him he saw black hair and ice blue eyes that he thought he ought to recognize, he tried to concentrate but the effort pushed him into unconsciousness.

* * *

**Earlier**

"Can we stop for food"

"No"

"But I'm hungry."

"I'm not."

"Yeah, but if you were hungry there's blood in the cool box. Why didn't you pack proper food?"

"Blood is proper food"

"I want drive-through."

"I want never gets."

"It will if you pull into that service station."

Damon sighed and pulled over. Travelling with humans was tiring. Still, he couldn't complain too much considering that if Ric hadn't agreed to come with him on another pointless hunt for Stefan he'd be having a pretty dull time on his own. Damon wasn't even convinced that this was part of Stefan's trail of destruction but here they were, winding through the country on another seemingly endless stretch of road. He ran his hands across the steering wheel absently as he waited for Ric to come back with food. Despite his protests he did enjoy food so he'd sent Ric off with his order as well, choosing not to actually leave the car for the time being.

When they had finished eating and taken a few minuets of rest Damon started the car and turned back onto the main road.

"Get your feet off the seat unless you want to lose them."

Ric sighed but obeyed, turning to look out of the window at the rolling hills and sparse woodlands.

"Do you think it's him?" Alaric asked after a moment of silence, catching Damon off guard.

"Maybe." Damon kept his eyes resolutely forward.

"Do you ever wonder what it'd have been like if it was you? You know, if he got bit and everything."

"If I had to try and make a deal with Klaus then Stefan would probably be dead. C'mon man, it's too sunny for hypothetical shit."

Ric grinned but let the subject drop.

When they arrived at the large house the sun had almost completely descended behind the horizon and the night was starting to turn colder. The house was huge, a massive mansion built next to the woods with enough space for at least ten people to sleep and a huge garden that spread to incorporate some of the neighbouring trees, when Damon knocked hard on the oak door the sound reverberated and seemed to echo in the open air.

"You could have rung the bell."

"Shut up."

The door swung open to reveal and young man with sallow skin and a lot of curly auburn hair, he looked at them nervously, trying to appear taller than he was and pretending that his shoulders weren't shaking uncontrollably. He wore a dirty old football jersey that he'd obviously never worn during his human life which was stained with old and newer blood. Damon could hear more voices from withing the house but if they belonged to vampires like the one before him he was pretty sure there would be no contest if it came to a fight. Which it probably would.

"Hello there," Damon said cheerfully. "We're here to check the cable." Alaric coughed to hide a laugh.

"Do you live here?" The man at the door asked tremulously.

"Don't you?"

"Yes." He took a step away and the door opened wider to show a tiny blonde girl behind him. "I mean... yes."

"You already said that."

"I… uh."

"You don't live here do you?"

"Well, I…" He looked at the girl for help.

"You're just a group of squatters who haven't learned how to deal with their food." Damon looked at Ric, "This was kinda pointless."

"I don't know," Ric replied, "Nothing helps my mood more than drinking bourbon and killing vampires, and we seem to be in the absence of a good bar."

"Well when you put it like that," Damon pulled a gun loaded with wooden bullets from his waistband and curled his other hand around a stake inside the sleeve of his jacket.

And then it all went to shit.

* * *

"Ric."

Alaric blinked slowly. Someone was calling his name. He really ought to answer but his tongue felt heavy and his mouth was full of the metallic tang of blood.

"Ric!"

Damon. Damon was talking to him through the fog in his mind. Alaric's eyes focused and he saw Damon kneeling above him and he took the hand that was offered to pull him into a sitting position. He slowly began to register the situation, it looked like Damon had managed to fight off the other vampires and when he shifted his limbs he noticed that all of his injuries were healed.

"Did I die?" His voice cracked a little and he swallowed, wincing at the taste of blood, "What happened to the others?"

"You're not dead, but there were more of them than we thought. Two got away." Damon told him, standing and walking over to the corpse of the vampire that had fallen near to Alaric, "You got smashed up pretty bad but I gave you some of my blood. You don't have the voodoo ring anymore, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Wait what, you gave me your blood? That's gross bro, my mouth tastes like shit."

"Firstly," Damon said, glaring and hoisting the dead vampire over his shoulder and opening the trunk of his car, "My blood is like fine wine, you're a lucky son of a bitch." He dumped the corpse into the car with a resounding thump, "And secondly, I totally just saved your life. I think someone owes me a thank you." He smirked and looked expectantly at Alaric.

Alaric glowered.

"I'd settle for any expression of gratitude."

Alaric got into the car.

"How about you dedicate a poem to me?"

Alaric turned on the stereo. Damon sighed and looked at the other bloodied bodies dispassionately.

"I guess I'll deal the with the mess then."

Damon sighed and shoved the trunk of the car closed with difficulty. It seemed that his car was not made for bodies, evidenced by the extremely tight fit of the four vampires currently stuffed inside it. He had briefly considered putting one in the back seat but he didn't want to risk getting blood on the seats, he'd learned the hard way just how easily blood stained. He heard the stereo go off and smiled to himself, that either meant that Ric had forgiven him or that he simply couldn't stand whatever bullshit the presenter was spouting. Either way it was a victory for Damon.

"I should've known you'd miss the sound of my voice." He said as he pulled open the door and dropped into the seat in a languid sprawl. He turned his head and saw the his reflection in the opposite window staring back at him. "Huh."

He looked down at where the keys ought to have still been in the ignition and stilled, listening intently. He could hear the cars from the highway rushing passed in the distance and the soft rushing of a stream nearby. He focused in closer, closed his eyes and honed in on the rustle of leaves nearby, the snapping of a twig. Within three seconds he was out of the car and deep into the forest where the two vampires that had escaped before stood with Ric.

Damon took a slow step forward, raising his hands in a gesture of mock surrender. The taller vampire, the one holding Ric tightly by his neck, looked at him and snarled, his face shifting to expose his fangs.

"You killed our friends." He spat angrily at Damon.

"You mean those guys?" Damon gestured vaguely in the direction of the car, "Those were your friends? I'm so sorry I didn't know. Next time I'll just leave an angry letter."

"Shut up!" The other vampire screamed. She was a pretty girl, slight and short, her blonde hair slightly matted from the fight. "We're going to kill you, first the human and then you!"

"How are you going to manage that? I already took down the Scooby gang."

"I can take you." She insisted, tensing to attack and letting her eyes darken.

Damon bit back a scathing retort when he saw the taller man's grip on Alaric's throat tighten. He forced himself to relax from his defensive stance and lowered his hands.

"How about we settle this peacefully? No one has to get hurt, right?" He looked directly at the girl, "I am sorry about your friends but you've been killing people without taking precautions. That has consequences."

"Consequences?" She asked with an incredulous laugh. "You kill your own kind, you have no right to lecture us." She looked at the taller one and gestured to Alaric, "Kill him, Jack."

"Leave him, Jack." Damon snapped, "You want to live don't you?"

Jack glanced from the girl to Damon, after a second his gaze settled on her.

"C'mon Kit, let's just go."

"Listen to him," Damon told her, "Go and that'll be the end of it."

"Fine." She grabbed Jack's sleeve and tugged. He released Alaric who gasped for air but managed to remain standing still, Jack turned and ran into the woods faster than Alaric's eyes could follow. Kit looked back at Damon, her eyes burning with hatred and moved so quickly he couldn't stop her. Damon reached Alaric's side just in time to hear the sickening crack as his neck snapped.

* * *

**Fin. Worth continuing?**


End file.
